Oman ranks second in GCC for food security

Muscat: Oman has been ranked second in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for food security, availability and quality on Global Food Security Index 2016.
According to the report, which was published for June 2016 by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Oman is one of the newest additions to the report, where it is also ranked 26 out of 113 countries.
Following Qatar in the GCC and Czech Republic worldwide while preceding Kuwait on both fronts, Oman recorded 12 key strengths that granted the country’s position.
Oman scored 100 for agricultural infrastructure, proportion of population under the poverty line, presence of food safety net programs, nutritional standards and public expenditure on agricultural research and development.
It also scored 94.5 on food safety, 93.1 on agricultural import tariffs and 91.6 on food loss. Volatility of agricultural production scored 80.8 and 77.4 went for sufficiency of supply while 75 was given for diet diversification and access to financing for farmers.
The scores are based on the affordability, availability and quality and safety of the food. Oman ranked 32 worldwide for its affordability and 26 for its availability while ranking 35 for its quality and safety among the 113 countries.
“The overall goal of the study is to assess countries that are most vulnerable to food insecurity through exploring the categories of food affordability, availability and quality and safety,” read the report.
Oman also made the top 29 list citing the top countries with the best environment indicating it is not in risk of having a shortage of food nor is it lacking in quality as well as it being available and affordable .